Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey told the court that Daljit Singh falsely changed the addresses of a large number of people on the Electoral Enrolment Centre's website before the 2010 election so that they were registered as living within the boundaries of the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board.

Most were Sikhs with the surname Singh, or Kaur for the women, and many were unaware their details had been changed.

Mr McCoubrey said the enrolment centre contacted the police when it noticed a large number of names were being registered in the electorate and that forms were being downloaded from computers that had the same IP addresses.

The Crown alleged the seven other defendants helped Daljit Singh, some by providing him with personal details of people who lived outside of Auckland.